Star-Crossed
by Inali Grimalkin
Summary: "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same" - Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights. A pair of souls forever entwined, but never truly together. Perhaps someday they can be together in life as they are in death.
1. Shanbo & Yingtai

**The first in a series of oneshot about the various lives the spirits of Oma and Shu endured.  
**

* * *

 _"She said that we were doomed to be star-crossed lovers; destined to wonder what might have been."_

 _David Rossi, Criminal Minds_

* * *

The era of Raava was over and the time of the Avatar had begun.

Yingtai was from the Lion Turtle of Water. She was not gifted with the power of water, but she was an excellent healer. Kind hearted, she tended to any sick or injured that found their way to her regardless of which Lion Turtle they hailed from. She thought the fighting between the four tribes was senseless and she wished things would go back to how things were in the stories her grandmother told her. Before they knew there were other Lion Turtles, when there was only your town and the Spirit Wilds.

Shanbo was a soldier from the Lion Turtle of Fire. He had been on the battlefield only a few days when he was injured in an attack and left to die with the others. By a stroke of luck he was discovered and brought to the nearest healing facility. His wounds were so bad it was impossible to tell which city he belonged to. Shanbo didn't wake for days while the healer who tended to him rarely left his side, determined that he would live.

Finally Shanbo awoke and looked into warm blue eyes and instantly fell in love.

Even though Shanbo had awoken Yingtai still tended to him every moment she could. She knew that with the war if anyone found out he wasn't one of them he would be killed. She needed to get him strong enough so he could leave before he was discovered. They took to pretending he slept for most of the day and at night Yingtai would change his bandages, help him to eat and drink and they would talk in hushed tones.

She was a good healer and Shanbo was soon well enough that he could travel, but he refused to leave Yingtai's side.

And after so many months together, bonding in the quiet of the night, she couldn't bear to see him go either. Yingtai had fallen in love with him in return.

The pair made plans to run away, try to make it to the Air cities, the place they had the greatest chance of finding refuge.

But their escape would not come soon enough.

Shanbo's identity was discovered one morning when Yingtai was called away to tend to another patient. Yingtai rushed back to his tent the moment she heard, hoping she could plead for their mercy and her love's life, but it was too late. His sentence had already been carried out.

The devastated Yingtai could see no future for herself in a world without Shanbo. She mixed herself a sleeping draught so strong that she would not wake again.

Before her eyelids fluttered closed for the last time she let out a prayer that she and Shanbo would meet again in the next life.

* * *

 **For Fire Edge  
**


	2. Fai & Ju

_"I'll love you even when I can't._ _I'll love you even when I shouldn't."_

 _Colleen Hoover, Confess_

* * *

A generation has passed since the founding of Omashu

His name was Fai and her's was Ju. Both were children of Air Nomads and the best of friends. Whenever they met and one of the temples they would play air ball and ride their bisons together. It is not in the nature of the Air people to stay in one place for long, so their meetings were brief and not as often as they would like.

"We are two halves of the same Paisho token," Ju would tell him each time they parted.

"Two birds in the same sky," Fai responded.

As they grew their meetings became few and further between. Fai was soon sixteen and had to make the choice all Nomads do; continue the wandering lifestyle or become a monk. Fai had dreamt of asking Ju to marry him the next time they met and begin their life of travels together, one day having children of their own. He set out on his own, traveling to each of the temples to see if they had seen his love and best friend. Each temple he was disappointed. None of the temples had seen her for over a year. It was uncommon, but not unheard of to go so long without stopping at a temple. Perhaps she was exploring the furthest reaches of the world and taking her time, enjoying each moment life brought her.

Fai feared the worst, that she had fallen ill on her travels or been in an accident. He spoke to every Nomad he passed on his way to the Northern Temple, praying they had seen the beautiful girl with the silver eyes and wide smile. No one had.

Finally he could delay it no longer. A choice had to be made. He couldn't bear to wander the world alone in search of her anymore, nor did he want to travel alone and see more of the world. He felt weary. He had seen enough. Without Ju's mischievous twinkle in her eye and her tinkling laugh he felt no joy in the Earth's beauty. He chose to dedicate his life to the temples and become a monk.

His head was shaved and he was dressed in the traditional robes the rest of the monks wore. Each morning he tried to push Ju a little further from his mind so he could focus on completing his training so he could receive his master's status.

At eighteen a ceremony was held for the trainees to be formally initiated and given their tattoos. Many nomads came to watch the ceremony, their sons, brothers and friends among those to be initiated. The young men received their tattoos in the morning after a night of meditation in a large room on the cold stone. At dawn one by one they were presented to their kindred and given a rosary, swearing to uphold the peaceful, chaste lives of the monks.

Fai received his rosary and bowed respectfully before the crowd, as he rose his eyes met familiar silver ones and a hope he had kept secreted away for years reignited. The ceremony soon ended. The moment he could excuse himself he rushed to where he had seen her. As though a dream she was still there, alone near the fountain. He reached to pull her in a hug and stopped short. It was too late. He had sworn his life to the monks. He could not even touch her skin.

Ju reached out her hand and he forced himself to step back.

"We can't," he whispered.

"I didn't know you would do this. Had I known..."

"I looked for you. I flew to each temple and no one had seen you in so long. Where were you?"

"My bison was pregnant, I left her with the nuns at the Western Temple to have and raise her young for a new generation of nomads before I retrieved her. I walked through the Earth Kingdom and sailed to the Fire Nation. I saw all four corners of the world on foot." Tears began to slide down her cheeks. "I took my time because I didn't know you wouldn't wait."

Fair felt his heart break. Had he given up too soon? He had hope in his heart that he would find her, but it hadn't been enough.

"It hurt too much," he said finally. "How could I not miss you? The moments we were supposed to have felt like a great hole in my life that I couldn't fill. And now it's too late. We can't do this. It's against every rule the monks have."

"How can I not love you? What do I tell my heart?" Ju asked him. She did not try to touch him again, but he knew she wanted to as much as he wanted to let her.

"We must pretend it's over. We must be brave and go on." He turned to leave, but hesitated. "It would be best if you never returned to the Northern Temple again. I don't think my heart would be able to take it. We will still be birds in the same sky, but we can no longer fly together."

Ju did as he asked. He never saw her at the Northern Temple again. The hope he had that one day the rules would change kept him from going insane, but he was never able to do the advanced meditation his colleagues did.

Monk Fai was remembered as the stern monk who taught that hope was only a distraction.

The Air Nomad Ju was remembered by no one.


	3. Jin & Ting

_"Bittersweet memories that is all I'm taking with me._

 _So goodbye._

 _Please don't cry._

 _We both know I'm not what you need."_

 _Whitney Houston, I Will Always Love You  
_

* * *

Jin was the prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne. Ting was the only daughter of a very wealthy lord. She was eight years older than Jin, but prominent, beautiful, intelligent and most importantly wealthy.

Their marriage was strategic. The Fire Lord wanted to add the wealth of the Tsu family to their royal coffers and a political marriage was the most efficient way.

Jin and Ting grew closer and over time formed a true love with one another. Her age made her more mature and less prone to the petty gossips of the court that Jin had grown accustomed to among women his own age. He found her to be a calming presence and a breath of fresh air. Ting was always at his right hand weather it be for a game of paisho, a walk in their private garden or to lay her own patient hand on his shoulder to calm him before he made an outburst.

The Fire Lord grew ill and was nearing the end of his life. He summoned his son to him to speak to him one last time.

"You need an heir, my son. I would have liked to see you a father yourself before I died, but I fear it is too late for that hope to come true." The old king let out a weary sigh and rested his paper thin hand on his son's cheek. "Promise me you will have a child. I do not want out bloodline to end here."

"Of course," Jin promised and remained by his father's side well into the night until at the very early hours of the morning the old king passed into the realm of the spirits.

For five years Jin and Ting began to try with greater determination to conceive a child, but to no avail.

Their love was genuine and passionate and never once strayed or faltered, but Fire Lord Jin required something that Ting could not give him. A child.

Ting denounced her role as Fire Lady and left the palace to become a nun while Jin married a new wife; a girl in her early twenties who bore him twelve children throughout their marriage, the largest number of offspring of any Fire Nation monarch before or since.

Ting and Jin bore their love for one another the rest of their lives. In death Jin had his ashes spread in his private garden, but a small portion was mixed with the ashes of the nun Ting who had died twenty years prior.

Her fellow nuns at the convent mourned the loss of the kindhearted Ting and prayed that she find love and happiness in the next life.


	4. Qilak & Kiiappak

_"... Y_ _ou just see right through me._  
 _If you only knew me_  
 _We could be a beautiful_  
 _Miracle,_  
 _Unbelievable_  
 _Instead of just invisible"_

 _Taylor Swift, Invisible  
_

* * *

Kiiappak was a servant girl. Her job was to tend to the fires in the bedrooms and most importantly not be seen.

Qilak was the prince of the Northern Water Tribe, heir to the throne and watched by all.

Kiiappak always saved his room for last, doing the others as quickly as she could so she might linger with him a little longer. She'd slip in silently around midnight and tend his fire so his room would be as warm and cozy as possible then tidy where she could; once that was done she would allow herself a few moments to look at him.

Though his eyes were always closed she knew they sparkles like the summer sky and even with his face relaxed in peaceful slumber she could see the smile lines and the way his eyebrows would crease when he was thinking or angry. She could close her eyes and picture his face down to the smallest detail.

He had never met her and didn't even know she existed. She was the nameless ghost who cleaned his room and nothing more.

Soon Qilak married his betrothed, a girl who had been arranged for him from the day he was born. A nice enough girl, someone he could one day grow to love.

One night, many years later he woke up feeling something he had never felt in his room before. Cold. The fire had gone out in the night. With a shiver he got up and shuffled over to the fire place, bringing the embers back to life and tossing a new log on. He watched the fire for a moment, satisfied that it would continue to burn without dying again and crawled back into his bed. He never had to stoke his own fire again.

Kiiappak left behind nieces and nephews who braided her hair and wrapped her in a warm blanket she had woven herself many years prior. They laid her so she could look at the sky and covered her body with stones to protect her and they prayed that she could find peace and love in the next life.


	5. Sonam & Yonten

_"He can touch your soul. And there is a difference between having your heart break and having your soul shatter."_

 _Cassandra Clare, Lady Midnight_

* * *

Sonam and Yonten were the same age, starting their air bending training together. The moment the met they instantly connected and were friends, spending as much time as they could with one another.

Over the years, their developing minds and bodies turned their friendship into a true love and romance. One that they nurtured in secret glances, whispered words and stolen moments.

On the eve of receiving their master tattoos they snuck away into an empty room and joined together as lovers for the first time. Waking together in the morning and celebrating their most important day as one.

Sonam and Yonten enjoyed a few years together, basking in their secret meetings and hidden places.

It was only a matter of time before they were caught.

* * *

"You have shamed your teachers and shamed the temple by your actions," the one of the Elders admonished with horror.

"We are disgusted that two of our very best monks would consort in such a manner. We are supposed to be pious and pure."

"Were you Fire Acolytes the pair of you would be executed for defiling the holy space," the third Elder added, less with disgust and more with pity in his eyes. "As it stands we cannot allow you to remain in the same temple. You will be separated for the remainder of your lives. I suggest that you take the solitude to reflect on what you have done and strive to be better in the future."

Sonam stayed in the North and while Yonten was sent to the South. True to their word the Elders never allowed them to see each other again. Once a year until the day that they died they would exchange love letters. The letters survived the passage of time and were eventually copied into a book, the doomed tale of the lovers.


End file.
